Ganze Children’s Officer Recounts Rescue Of 3 Children Linked To Cult Practices

The 58th prosecution witness in the Shakahola massacre trial on Thursday described how children were withdrawn from schools and subjected to forced fasting under the influence of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie’s radical doctrines.

The suspects are charged with torture and cruelty to children and denying children basic education.

Ganze Sub-County Children’s Officer Omar Mohamed told the court that on May 23, 2023, the county security committee received reports that children linked to Mackenzie’s followers were no longer attending school.

The committee directed children’s officers to investigate the claims, prompting a fact-finding mission by government officials.

During the visits, officials established that parents had pulled their children out of school on the belief that education was evil.

In one homestead, the team found a man who openly preached against schooling while explaining his children’s absence from class.

The children’s officer said he interviewed three minors who confirmed that their parents had not only withdrawn them from school but had also subjected them to starvation in adherence to Mackenzie’s teachings.

Mohamed further testified that the children were immediately rescued and taken to Malindi Police Station, before being placed at Blessed Generation Children’s Rescue Centre, where they received counselling, medical attention, first aid, and food.

They were later re-admitted to school, with one girl now in Form Three at a Nairobi high school.

Two parents involved in the withdrawal and forced fasting of the minors were subsequently arrested and are among the accused persons before the court.

Further, the 59th prosecution witness, Chief Inspector Klein Kulicha, a crime scene investigator, also testified in the case.

He said a team of investigators visited Mackenzie’s Furunzi-based church on May 1, 2023, where they collected photographic evidence linked to his radical activities.